Top > Entertainment > 2006 > September > 2006-09-25

Apple to Improve Downloading Service

On September 12th, Disney became the first movie studio to offer full length movie downloads on Apple`s iTunes. The company`s 75 titles, has reportedly received 125,000 downloads in its first week, worth a total revenue of approximately $1 million. It might seem as if there is a new player in town, but the downloading service isn`t completely a novelty in the World Wide Web, as the bar has been set by Netflix, which offers more than 65,000 titles for rent.

The iTunes service claims near-DVD quality, but what consumers receive is closer to broadcast TV, the download time is long and of course, this means that watching a flick cannot be an impulse decision like with an on-demand cable service. The biggest problem though is the means by which we watch the film, because in the end, most of us see watching a movie on a big screen TV, as the ideal viewing experience.

Many people have their PC`s or Mac`s connected directly to their TV sets, but the quality, oh the quality. Apple promises to solve this problem early next year when it introduces a product with the working title of iTV, a device that is set to bridge the gap between personal computers and home-entertainment systems. Apple gave an impressive demonstration of iTV on Sept. 12, but we will wait to see if this materializes.